The present invention relates to the fields of chemistry and physiology, particularly protein chemistry and more particularly lipolytic, proteolytic and fibrinolytic compounds.
Fibrin is the basic building block of scar tissue that builds in the human or animal body. Although other proteins play a similar role in the body, fibrin is the major unit of scar deposition.
Some of the most studied areas where fibrin and other proteins have been shown to be deposited is in the blood vessels of the body, particularly the arteries. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,658 describes a new fibrinolytic enzymatic product having also anticoagulant properties is recovered from bile. It can be further purified to yield several fractions, all having similar activities, their molecular weights varying between about 5,000 and 50,000. The product or its fibrinolytically active derivatives are used to dissolve fibrin and inhibit blood coagulation in vivo or in vitro.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,635 describes a fibrinolytic pharmaceutical composition in unit dosage form suitable for administration by injection to humans which comprises an amount of a water soluble complex of a proteolytic enzyme sufficient to achieve the desired degree of fibrinolysis on administration to a human and linked covalently to a water-soluble polymeric substance having a molecular weight of from 10,000 to 500,000. The enzyme and the polymeric substance are present in the ratio of 1:2 to 1:50 and the composition is substantially free of unreacted enzyme.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,414 discloses a pharmaceutical composition comprising a metalloproteinase fibrinolytic agent, a zinc stabilizer and, optionally, a bulking agent, in a pharmaceutically-acceptable buffer. This metalloproteinase fibrinolytic agent comprises a specific amino acid sequence.